When Loving Your Kid is a Crime

This was wonderful. I loved hearing these families talk about supporting their kids. Its incredibly sad that this book needs to exist. But everyone did an incredible job on it.

I started this book this afternoon and couldn’t put it down. The parents relate heart-wrenching and often hopeful stories about supporting their children through a gender identity discovery and the transitions that come in their children’s body, lives, relationships, and their experiences coping with all of the discrimination they face just for loving their child and keeping them safe. There are a range of perspectives, all the parents react differently and have different backgrounds and experience prior to the story. The interviews are from scattered places around the US, and the children range in age from young toddlers to college-aged adults. I found it to be very educational and uplifting, with a necessary call to action for readers. Whether you are a parent of a transgender child yourself, or even if you’ve never met a transgender person, this text is important.

Wow, this book was just wow
I for one, don't have any children
But you could just imagine what it would be like to have a child in that time
The pain they would have to go through all because you love someone you brought into this world
I'm very grateful to have something like this published
Because It makes you come back to earth and be grateful for things you do have

This book was both heartfelt and heartbreaking!! Such a good read! I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I am so glad that I read it.

There were things I loved about this book and things that drove me a tiny bit mad, but through it all, it is one I would highly recommend and I'll tell you why!

When loving your kid is a crime is a collection of stories which the author weaves together about parents of Transgender youth in various stages of transition. Each story starts with an introduction of the parent(s) and child(ren)'s gender and sexual orientation, as well as their ages. The story is then told from the parent's perspective and in most cases seemed to be verbatim what was shared in an interview or written submission format. There were grammatical errors and inconsistencies that made it at times difficult to follow or slightly annoying to readers who expect a more consistent tone and professional voice. That being said, this also allowed each parent to share their story in their own words, the feelings, fears and beliefs were raw and unaltered and that was clear from page one. Surprisingly, or perhaps unsurprisingly when you think about the current state of affairs we find ourselves in, there were more similarities between the stories than there were differences, regardless of what state, age and family make up (religion, culture, single parent vs couple etc.) were sharing their story. This proves that the title holds true, no matter where you are, if you are in the United States (or other countries) loving a transgender child can be a crime. This awful fear can also become a reality at sometimes a moments notice when suddenly a new law is passed or someone new comes into power. This is a story that I feel should be required reading for many groups of people. The parents of LGBTQ youth obviously being the first, but also politicians, law makers, conservatives, right wing groups, anti-LGBTQ protestors, teachers, community members, medical professionals, social workers... the list goes on and on. Where else can you find real case studies this easily accessible and easy to compare?

So is it the most well-written book I've read, no? But it's also not the worst, and it deserves to be read because the messages are important and the voices speaking are ones that need to be heard. So read this book! Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me the chance to read and review this book!

Thank you for this book, it's an important read. I suggest this book for anyone trying to understand what our kids are going through.

This short book packs a serious punch in its interviews with parents and their transgender children that highlight the challenges transgender youth in America face today. Wilchins and Howell have compiled a list of powerful young transgender people from across the United States who were willing and brave enough to share their stories with the world, and these young people are incredibly brilliant, powerful, wise beyond their years, and so, so, brave. The world that these young people live in is brutal, and they and their parents articulate their efforts in the face of these struggles, emphasizing how much work needs to be done for these young adults and for countless young transgender people like them in the United States and perhaps around the world. Wilchins and Howell have done a magnificent job in curating these interviews and connecting so many stories together to create another larger narrative. This book is a powerful must-read for all ages to understand the current political and social climate in the United States towards the transgender community and become better activists and allies for this historically marginalized community. When Loving Your Kid is a Crime is an incredible, powerful book with a strong, clear message.